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Home Sittingbourne News Article
A third possible sighting of missing Matthew Green has been made in New Zealand.
Chris Kentsley says he saw a man who looked like the roofer waiting outside a toilet block close to Howick beach, east Auckland.
The location is about 8km from the Sylvia Park shopping mall where a man with a striking resemblance to the 29-year-old was spotted by two former townspeople on separate occasions.
Mr Kentsley, 53, was sitting in his car waiting to pick up his eight-year-old son Daniel from school at about 4.30pm last Wednesday when the man caught his eye.
It wasn’t until he saw a photo which accompanied an article in the New Zealand Herald newspaper about the former Fulston Manor School student that he realised the significance of the sighting.
The dad-of-one said: “I was about 70 or 80 metres away from him. The reason I checked him out was because he looked a bit like a friend of mine from a distance.
“He was smoking a cigarette. It was then I realised it couldn’t be Fran as he doesn’t smoke.
“He was wearing a short sleeved shirt and long shorts. I think he had a beanie hat or a cap on so I couldn’t see his hair. He also had a dog with him, a doberman I think.
“I gave him a look as I drove by and he gave me a real look back. It was unusual because he looked nervous.
“He was quite thick set and he had big shoulders He also had tattoos on both of his upper arms. I couldn’t see what they were but they weren’t what New Zealand people have - they have a particular style.
“I don’t want to put his family’s hopes up but it was the fact he looked similar to the picture and he had tattoos.
“If there’s a possibility [it’s him] you don’t want to let it go.” The self-employed roofer has been missing for three years.
He was last seen at the family home in Rock Road, Sittingbourne, at 8pm on April 8, 2010, when he told his parents Pauline and Jim he was going to stay with a friend in London for the weekend.
When he didn’t return home, his disappearance was reported to the police. This latest sighting has heightened Matthew’s parents’ hopes that it is their son.
Mrs Green, 59, said: “It’s positive news especially as this sighting is in the same area.
“I just need it verified that it is or isn’t my Matt.”
As reported in last week’s News Extra the two previous sightings in Auckland, were made by Hannah Bellew and Darren Driver.
Mrs Bellew, a former Fulston Manor pupil, was with her husband and their two children when she saw a man who looked like Matthew at the Sylvia Park shopping mall at around 10.30am on May 18.
Mr Driver believes he spotted the same man in a mobile phone shop at the same shopping centre at around 11.30am on June 7.
The 32-year-old, who used to live in Kemsley, says he is “95% sure” it was Matthew.
Kent Police says it is following up all lines of inquiry in conjunction with the authorities in New Zealand.
